Severe storms armed with drenching rains and dangerous winds forced the evacuation of homeowners across North Texas on Tuesday, while rescuers searched for a teenager believed to have been swept away by floodwaters in Mesquite.

Photos by JIM MAHONEY/DMN

For pedestrians, there was little escape from pounding rains Tuesday in downtown Dallas, which saw nearly 6 inches fall. As many as 6,700 customers across the area lost power at some point during the storms.

The weather system that crippled local air traffic also sparked flash floods that closed streets and stranded motorists throughout the day. More than 4 ½ inches of rain was reported at Dallas Love Field, and almost 6 inches fell in downtown Dallas.

The National Weather Service's official recording station at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport – where a 68 mph wind gust was reported – had 2.13 inches of rain, a record for the date.

The storms had cut power to about 6,700 customers across the area by the afternoon. That number fell to 1,600 late Tuesday.

In Mesquite, emergency officials searched into the night for a 14-year-old boy after a friend said he was carried away in a creek near Interstate 635 and Bruton Road.

Fire officials said the two teenagers were playing shortly before 2 p.m. when they were pulled into the water. One swam to safety, but the other was sucked into a drainage pipe, the friend said.

"It's definitely a life-threatening situation," Mesquite fire spokesman Mark Noble said Tuesday night. "It's still swift and dangerous."

Mesquite, Garland, Balch Springs and Department of Public Safety emergency workers had set up a search-and-rescue operation along the creek.

In Lancaster, officials urged residents to evacuate their homes along Ten Mile Creek after the banks reached their limits Tuesday afternoon. Officials sent voluntary evacuation notices to 687 registered phone numbers and closed about 16 streets in response to flooding, Lancaster spokeswoman Ciciely Hickmon said.

Despite the evacuation notice, Darrell Amlong, whose house is a few dozen yards from the swollen creek, decided to stay behind with a poncho and shovel.

"I'm trying to dig [a ditch] because I don't want it backing up to my house," he said.

Floods have been common for Mr. Amlong, who said his home has flooded five or six times within the same number of years. He said he can't afford flood insurance and would have problems selling his home because of the proximity to the creek. Several homes on Enchanted Lane are now vacant.

Mr. Amlong estimated the creek is usually about 20 to 30 yards wide, but on Tuesday it had grown to 75 to 100 yards wide.

"I get scared when it rains" like this, he said.

A shelter for displaced Lancaster residents was set up at a recreation center at 1700 Veterans Memorial Parkway, where Red Cross officials were ready to help.

In Dallas, residents living along the Trinity River and White Rock Creek were also under the threat of being forced from their homes. Both waterways were predicted to crest above flood stage.

A Red Cross shelter was opened Tuesday evening at the Nash-Davis Recreation Center at 3710 N. Hampton Road.

The floods also closed dozens of streets across the region, including Northwest Highway at Lawther Drive, where 15 DART passengers were evacuated from a bus stranded in high water near White Rock Lake on Tuesday afternoon.

In north Garland late Tuesday, the Fire Department rescued a man and a woman who were trapped on the roof of their SUV for about two hours after driving into high water on East Campbell Road near Firewheel Golf Park.

"I think what I've seen so far has been a lot of road closures," said weather service meteorologist Jesse Moore. "Road flooding is mostly what we've had."

Across town in Northwest Dallas, a tanker trunk overturned on West Northwest Highway at Loop 12 about 7:30 p.m., shutting down both highways. Northwest Highway was expected to be closed until this morning while crews cleaned up a solvent the truck was hauling.

In Pleasant Grove, a van making deliveries for the Dallas Tortilla & Tamale Factory got stuck in high water, blocking Lawnview Avenue where it passes beneath Military Parkway.

"I saw the water coming toward me real fast," said the driver, David Ballin. "I got out of there. It was getting higher and higher and higher."

Mr. Ballin said he jumped out of the van and half-swam, half-walked to higher ground. The van was towed to the city auto pound.

"Let me tell you," he said, "it was so scary."

In Highland Park, George Patterson, the town administrator, said the primary University Park-Highland Park sewer main overflowed at Armstrong Avenue and Lakeside Drive.

It was too early to say how much sewage spilled into Turtle Creek, but town engineer Meran Dadgostar said that by midafternoon the total was several hundred thousand gallons.

The sewage coming out of the manhole was shooting up to 3 feet high, Mr. Patterson said.

Mr. Dadgostar said flooding was much less of a concern than the sewer overflow. "The one major concern we have is the sewage running overground," he said.

The town will have to report the overflow to state officials.

Elsewhere across the region, emergency crews struggled to keep up with rising water.

In Lancaster, a Fire Department team performed five high-water rescues with no injuries reported.

Police in Garland received reports from at least 15 areas in need of barricades to be put up for high water. And in Red Oak, a swollen creek forced the evacuation of a small mobile-home park.

Two Dallas County Community College District campuses closed early, canceling evening classes because of rising water on roadways in Mesquite and Lancaster.

But the region should receive a respite from rain for the rest of the week.

Weather service meteorologist Ted Ryan said the storms should move out of Dallas overnight, leaving highs in the 60s and 70s with plenty of sun through Friday.

There's a 20 percent change of rain for Easter Sunday.

Staff writers Steve Thompson, Kathy A. Goolsby, Scott Goldstein, Ian McCan, Holly Yan, and Jenni Beauchamp contributed to this report.